False Bottom + Ball Valve + Copper Scrubbie = Holy crap! Why didn't I do this sooner?

OK, it was a bit of a hit to my checking account and I was really nervous about putting a hole in my kettle, but in the end, totally worth it. Seriously, I've never seen wort this clear going from kettle to fermenter. No hop sludge, no hot break, just beautiful, crystal clear wort.

Of course, about halfway through draining the pot it did get clogged (6 oz of pellet hops will do that, unfortunately), so I sanitized a turkey baster and blew some air back in through the tube, and I was flowing again without any further difficulty. All told it took about half the time it would have taken me to siphon the same amount of wort into the fermenter.

Never again will I have to worry about stray hop particles in the keg, or having to toss a perfectly good yeast cake because it's full of stale hops that won't separate out.

Anyone on the fence about getting one of these installed on your boil kettle, do it. Do it now.

Just a regular dishwashing scrubbie? Is it pure copper? I wonder if they make them in stainless? I need something to filter grain particles that make it past the false bottom in my MLT. This might be the ticket.

Reelale said:

Just a regular dishwashing scrubbie? Is it pure copper? I wonder if they make them in stainless? I need something to filter grain particles that make it past the false bottom in my MLT. This might be the ticket.

Click to expand...

Brewer's Hardware trub filter for the win!

Reelale said:

Just a regular dishwashing scrubbie? Is it pure copper? I wonder if they make them in stainless? I need something to filter grain particles that make it past the false bottom in my MLT. This might be the ticket.

Click to expand...

Yep, regular dishwashing scrubbie. Said "pure copper" right on the box. Gave the whole works a starsan soak before using it.

I've been rocking the SS scrubbie's for some time. Love them.

*edit*
Wait, you use the FB and a scrubbie?

berner, I don't think it's kosher to link to another brewing forum here (so I won't, but can PM you the link if you want), but I have seen posts where people did a test boil of plain water with a copper scrubby and the water turned a copper/brownish color. This happened no matter how many times they changed the water.

Just an FYI, as it may be an isolated incident and may not occur with the scrubbies you purchased.

IrregularPulse said:

Wait, you use the FB and a scrubbie?

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Yeah, it actually worked out quite well. The FB held back quite a bit of the hops so the scrubbie didn't have to work so hard.

Ace_Club said:

berner, I don't think it's kosher to link to another brewing forum here (so I won't, but can PM you the link if you want), but I have seen posts where people did a test boil of plain water with a copper scrubby and the water turned a copper/brownish color. This happened no matter how many times they changed the water.

Just an FYI, as it may be an isolated incident and may not occur with the scrubbies you purchased.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for it. For what it's worth I boiled several gallons of sparge water and didn't notice a change in color. And the post-boil wort tasted perfectly normal.

The brand I used was Chore Boy.

Reelale said:

Just a regular dishwashing scrubbie? Is it pure copper? I wonder if they make them in stainless? I need something to filter grain particles that make it past the false bottom in my MLT. This might be the ticket.

Click to expand...

I have a SS scrubbie under my FB. Works great but if you have a bit of adjunct like oats it can get nasty but not plugged up.

IrregularPulse said:

I've been rocking the SS scrubbie's for some time. Love them.

*edit*
Wait, you use the FB and a scrubbie?

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Yup, belt and suspenders.

bernerbrau said:

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for it. For what it's worth I boiled several gallons of sparge water and didn't notice a change in color. And the post-boil wort tasted perfectly normal.

The brand I used was Chore Boy.

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I use the Chore Boy stainless. I'm pretty sure they were the same price as the copper scrubbie.

Yep. Been using stainless scrubbies for years. Just wash them and reuse. Lasts forever.
I have one in the mash and one in the boil . Never have to worry about grain getting to the boil or hops pluggin things up.

For those of you using stainless scrubbies, you're talking about something like this?

dankev said:

For those of you using stainless scrubbies, you're talking about something like this?

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I buy them from a local wine equipment supply but they look
exactly like those.

You can also find them at WallyWorld...

Cheers!

How are you guys attaching the scrubbies to the dip tube?

I just jamb it under the end of the tube, which is ~3/8" off the bottom of my MLT...

Cheers!

I use a FB and SS scrubbies in my kettle as well.. My plate chiller kind of forced my hand a little on that...

Good stuff, I'll put this on the list to buy the next time I'm at Walmart

Would someone mind uploading a picture of the scrubbie installed in their BK?
Thanks.

Mpavlik22 said:

Would someone mind uploading a picture of the scrubbie installed in their BK?
Thanks.

Click to expand...

I just spread it out a little and place it in the center



drop in the false bottom and the dip tube scrunches into
the middle of the scrubbie and holds it there.

shutupjojo said:

I just spread it out a little and place it in the center

Click to expand...

How does this full false bottom and scrubbee combo do with recirculating through a CFC? Have you tried it with all pellet hops? Does the flow to the March pump suffer due to hop restriction??

KaceMN said:

How does this full false bottom and scrubbee combo do with recirculating through a CFC? Have you tried it with all pellet hops? Does the flow to the March pump suffer due to hop restriction??

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I don't think you would have a problem with pellet hops in a CFC like you would with a plate chiller... Plate chillers are a little more finicky about pellet hops... With this setup, the only problem I had was when the scrubbie got propped up and let a bunch of hops past... Total cockpit error on my part...

Do you think it would be possible to not have a false bottom and only use the SS scrubbie?

Festmaster said:

Do you think it would be possible to not have a false bottom and only use the SS scrubbie?

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Using a dip tube, I don't see why not. But the false bottom holds back a LOT of pellet hops, more than you'd think.

shutupjojo said:

Yep. Been using stainless scrubbies for years. Just wash them and reuse. Lasts forever.
I have one in the mash and one in the boil . Never have to worry about grain getting to the boil or hops pluggin things up.

Click to expand...

Do you use a FB in your boil kettle too?

So the setup is starting to show some signs of diminishing returns.

First, the nylon tube, despite being double thickness and reinforced, is starting to deform and not fit the barb on the end of the FB, letting unfiltered wort through.

Second, the SS scrubbie is pushing up the false bottom to the point where I always have to anchor it down with something.

Third, the scrubbie itself is getting too clogged up with trub to let anything through, and when I try to backflush it to dislodge the trub, the tube detaches from the false bottom instead.

I'm going to try a couple brews with a 90-degree brass elbow on the end of the ball valve instead. If I can get it to whirlpool just right, the trub should collect in the center of the kettle and I won't pick up much on the edge.

why not use steel wool, might not be stainless, but it only needs to be used once then toss. they do get rusted if you continually pull them out of water and let them dry, then they start letting a bunch of stuff out, but on their first opening of a coarse one they will not rust while they are under water and its only like $0.50 per one. so 2 per brew. sounds like what i might do. i need steel wool anyway cuz i wash windows so i'm always buying it and going through it till it rusts, then its done. they also sell copper wool for a little more money, that 'gaurantees' no rust but i can't account for it changing the water color/flavor or not. but hell don't we need a little cu in our diets? what about using some cheese cloth after the steel mesh that you have too? like cover the entrance with a piece of cheese cloth, then nothing could possibly get through.


Maybe, this just jumped into my head, there should be a bag that fits a whole 5 gal pot(able to fold top edges around top of kettle to hold the bag there. then have a fb and no steel filter, just cloth and the fb to prevent the cloth from clogging the fb tube. that sounds almost flawless to me, only things that could get through your cheese cloth could get into your beer and there should be less chance of clogging everything up, or its easier to clear, just swirl the bag. you could still use an imersion or plate wort chiller this way too.

any idea where to buy that size of a bag? i already have the largest one they sell at the homebrew shops around here and its nowhere near large enough for this style of project.

bernerbrau said:

I'm going to try a couple brews with a 90-degree brass elbow on the end of the ball valve instead. If I can get it to whirlpool just right, the trub should collect in the center of the kettle and I won't pick up much on the edge.

Click to expand...

could do something like i do in my cooler MT
https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=45072&title=cooler-mt-filter-4&cat=500

shutupjojo said:

I just spread it out a little and place it in the center

View attachment 37467

drop in the false bottom and the dip tube scrunches into
the middle of the scrubbie and holds it there.

View attachment 37468

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What is the blue thing you have there?

trailbrew said:

What is the blue thing you have there?

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Locline. Awsome stuff.

shutupjojo said:

Locline. Awsome stuff.

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at the risk of sounding dumb what does it do and where do get it?

trailbrew said:

at the risk of sounding dumb what does it do and where do get it?

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It's adjustable and and I'm sure he's for a whirlpool